term: software stack

Hello,
On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 12:00 AM, Ferenc Veres <lion at netngine.hu> wrote:
> I think some terms are confusing to new users and Wiki readers.
> "Software stack", is one of those, at least for me. What's your opinion?
Then we should explain what the term means, IMO. Wikipedia have this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_stack
which isn't too great either. I hope someone have a better explanation
that we can use.
> Could we call these as "Distributions"? There is a page for this already:
Yes, that would work. We must of course explain what we put into the
term "distribution.
Wikipedia have these examples (among others):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_distributionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Software_Distributionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution
As long as we don't use the slang-word "distro" I'm quite happy.
>http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Distributions (needs some editing of course)
Well, I don't think we can leave that page as is - it needs some overhaul.
IMO, the most important thing is to have an introduction to the
distributons before jumping into the features table.
> I never heard "software stacks" before. (Being programmer for 10+
> years... I did not work with embedded software anyway.)
Then you have lived a sheltered life. :-)
I have worked in the IT industry / section / market / whatever for 15+
years, and "software stack" is a very commonly used term.
> Of course we can keep this term on some places, and developers will keep
> writing it into Wiki, but let's not face newbies with the need of
> choosing a "software stack" to proceed. :-) Not even "The openmoko
> stack". (quote from the main page!)
IMO, it is more important that we are consistent in our usage of a
term. For example, if we choose "distribution" we should try to use it
on all pages where it applies. Then we can explain that "distribution"
is also known as "software stack" in some places.
How's that?
--
Regards,
Torfinn